Month: March 2007

Berkeley’s having trouble boxing the Jackrabbits out on the offensive end, and Long Beach Poly is taking advantage.
The Jackrabbits are on a 13-4 run keyed in part by their offensive rebounding, and Berkeley fouling the Jackrabbits on the second attempt, which has resulted in Long Beach Poly going to the free-throw line three times in the quarter.
A big portion has happened with Berkeley center Alex Mitchell on the bench with two fouls.
Jasmine Dixon keyed Long Beach Poly during the spurt with nine points.

The Berkeley faithfuls chants seemed to have energized the team as the Yellow Jackets tied the game on Bridges’ sixth point of the game to make it 17-17.
Bridges and the rest of the Yellow Jackets are playing with a lot more fire in Gene Nakamura’s last game as head coach.

Berkeley High School girls basketball coach Gene Nakamura’s face was popping up all over Arco Arena, thanks to the Berkeley faithful, who had paper masked made up for the cheering section.
The Yellow Jackets overcame early jitters and trail Long Beach Poly 17-15 after one quarter.
Erica Webster, Aleah Bridges and Alex Mitchell all have scored four points to help Berkeley hang with USA Today’s second-ranked team in the nation.
Washington-bound Candice Nichols has seven points to lead the Jackrabbits.

There is about an hour left in the Nakamura era at Berkeley High School and the Yellow Jackets girls basketball team is still business as usual.
But this will be the last time coaches Gene Nakamura, Herb Miller and Chris Hope will share the sideline together.
Tip off against the defending state Division I champion Long Beach Poly is seconds away.

The St. Patrick-St. Vincent girls basketball team took losing the Division IV state championship game with a lot of class.
There were no tears during the press conference. They undertsood and accepted what had just happened.
“I think their greatness showed in the first half,” St. Pats coach Rodney Faucett said about his team. “In the second half, we failed to make some shots, failed to do some stuff that got us to this level.”
After a first half in which the Bruins looked unbeatable, St. Pats came out flat and out of sync offensively in the third and fourth quarters, hitting only 5 of 33 shots in the second half, settling for the 3-point shot and missing some easy lay-ups.
Meanwhile, Nikki Speed scored 20 points after halftime and now it was the Mustangs who were on fire.
The loss hurt more for Erika Ruiz, who played her final high school game. But Cowling will return for her senior year with freshman Ashley Moore as her side kick.
With those two in place Faucett was able to look directly at the media and say: “We will be back.”

The entire St. Patrick-St. Vincent section stands up and showers the Bruins with cheers. With 1:09 left in the game, and St. Pats is trailing 63-52, they can sense that this one is slipping away

Cowling hits a free throw and makes 32 points so far. She moves ahead of Mia Fisher (Amador Valley) and Candice Wiggins (La Jolla Country Day) on the all-time single-game performance list and is tied for seventh.

With 23 seconds left, Rodney Faucett pulls his starters and the Bruins fall to Marlborough 67-52.

The Bruins are looking like a completely different team. So are the Mustangs. St. Pats stopped driving to the basket and has relied on the jumpshot, which isn’t falling.

Nikki Speed hits two free throws to take a 44-42 lead. It’s Marlborough’s first lead since 2-0 in the first quarter. Speed scores 12 in the third period as the Mustangs outscore the Bruins 20-4 in the quarter. Speed now has 17 and the lead 46-44 at the end of three.

What’s this? Marlborough is making a run, after a Speed hits a 3-pointer and the Mustangs open the third quarter on a 14-2 run to come all the way back and only trail 42-40

The Bruins have absolutely gone away from Alex Cowling. She hasn’t taken a shot in the third period and there’s 3:10 left. The Bruins have committed five turnovers and are 1-for-9 during the dry spell. St. Pats coach Rodney Faucett calls a time out to stop the bleeding.

Alex Cowling is trying to keep a serious face at the half, but go ahead and smile and enjoy the moment. Cowling scores another 12 points in the second quarter and has 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and is 8-of-11 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

The most points scored in a CIF championship game by an individual is Cheryl Miller’s 41 points in 1982. Cowling has a ways to go but another half like the first and it’s not out of the question.

The Bruins are running all over the Mustangs who are of sync and, frankly, looked stunned.

Meanwhile, Marlborough’s big gun, Nikki Speed is 2 of 8 from the field for 5 points. She’s fast but at times looks out of control and the team is following her lead. The Monarchs are 9-for-31 from the field and have 14 turnovers.